Southwestern shows their potential in loss to No. 1 Iowa Central

CRESTON – Southwestern Community College was swept by the No. 1 team in NJCAA DII Volleyball Wednesday.

The Spartans fell in straight sets (10-25, 11-25, 9-25.)

“Coming in tonight going against the No. 1 team in the nation all I was hoping for was that my team would play to their potential,” head coach Shaela Camp said. “For the most part we did about 80% of the game we played our potential, I mean we haven’t played like that in a long time so to me that was fun.”

Sophomore Allison Lillis was everywhere on the hardwood Wednesday.

“Alli [Lillis] did amazing I mean defensively she did a great job getting hands up on the block on everything, she even shut down Angel [Baylark] at least once,” coach Camp said.

On the offensive side of volleyball, sophomore outside hitter Deniz Tuncer continues to impress.

“Deniz did a great job, she always puts the ball in play,” coach Camp said.

The Spartans trailed in set one 23-6 but they had a four point rally at the end of the set before falling 25-10.

In the second set, Southwestern scored the first two points and continued to hang around the Tritons. However, the Tritons expanded their 6-5 lead by going on a 10-2 run. The Spartans broke up the Triton run with two points, but Iowa Central finished the set on a 9-2 run.

The final set was all Iowa Central. Coach Camp took the first timeout of the set with the Spartans trailing 11-3.

“I always bring it back to ‘Hey we have to keep going,’” coach Camp said regarding her focal points in time outs. “We kind of lose our focus and we lose our intensity, I take the timeouts to be like ‘listen up this is what we need to do.’”

The Spartans head to Boone for a Friday and Saturday tournament hosted by No. 14 Des Moines Area Community College.

The Spartans previously faced the Bears this season on Sept. 22, where they fell in straight sets.